Best 22LR ammo for Ruger Mark III 22/45?

This is a discussion on Best 22LR ammo for Ruger Mark III 22/45? within the Defensive Ammunition & Ballistics forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I know it is not a sd handgun and I don't have any plans to use it for that but I just wanted a good ...

Best 22LR ammo for Ruger Mark III 22/45?

I know it is not a sd handgun and I don't have any plans to use it for that but I just wanted a good plinker so I bought one today. So the question is, what is the best ammo to get tomorrow to go shoot it some and sight it in? I was thinking CCI Mini Mag Hp but does anyone else have good experience with another type of ammo.

Are you after accuracy or inexpensive practice/plinking? Bulk Box of Federal, Remington, Winchester, etc. will give you plenty of fun practice for a low cost. If you are after accuracy, I would test serveral different brands of std velocity 40gr loads (remington target, Win t-22, fed bulk target, federal Gold, etc). They are a little more expensive than the practice HV HP's but appear to be more consistant in velocity and a little more accurate in most pistols. Unless you are planning on competeing, there is no need to get the specialty pistol taget loads.

I'm not fond of bulk-pack ammo in any of my rimfire autoloaders (two Ruger Mk IIs and four 10/22s), although my biggest problems are with anything with the Remington name on it, and Winchester Wildcats.

I highly recommend what Superhouse 15 suggested, namely to try a variety of loads. Skip the Stingers, though - on my bull-barrel model, the extra-long case seemed too long for the chamber.

One tip - if you're trying different loads to test for accuracy, don't make any conclusions after just 10 rounds of any given load. Rifles may be more sensitive to this than pistols with shorter barrels, but it takes a good 10 or 20 rounds for your barrel to get 'conditioned' to the new ammo, and the first dozen or so rounds after changing may not be representative of what that load can do in your gun. I was shocked to discover that effect during an Appleseed shoot last year; I ran out of one brand of ammo and shifted to another right after sighting in on Day Two. At the 30-ish yard range we shot, I had not only an elevation change but a 2-3 click windage shift as well after changing ammo. Then after another two mags' worth, I was chasing the sights partway back to where they'd been as the barrel 'settled in' with the new ammo. I did some research and found out this was not a rare situation.

FWIW, my go-to accuracy ammo in the Ruger pistols is Winchester T22, which is standard velocity.

A friend of mine has this pistol and she shoots the Federal Bulk Pack stuff with good results. I used the 22/45 with the Fed bulk to put 8 of 10rds into a 16oz bottle at 15yds offhand with the first magazine. Which would be why I just had a MkIII 22/45 Bull Barrel ordered today :D

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For target practicing any of the brick ammo should probably be ok. However, if you shoot any competition, I would go with CCI minimags since they are much more reliable. I don't have a Ruger, but I have a Sig Mosquito that doesn't like brick ammo, and it's a common problem with .22 semiauto pistols. Last time I shot steel challenge there was a young boy on my squad that had a Ruger .22 that I felt bad for since he had a lot of ammo problems with it. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't CCI minimags.